The Stockings Were Hung

One of the things I was most excited about with this house was that we would have a mantle to hang our stockings off of! Most houses we looked at actually do have fireplaces and mantles, so it wasn't specific to this house, but not having one the last few years has made me extra eager to decorate it this year. So eager I may have jumped the gun by two weeks. Oops.

Last Christmas I was able to finish Chi and Audra's stockings in time for Christmas day. I also made a third one right after Christmas that would be mine or a future child's depending on what styles came out for the 2014 Christmas season. Around May or June they released the new stockings and I found one that I thought would work very well for mine, so I ended up working on it throughout the summer. All four stockings are officially complete and I can't wait until I get to hang all four. 

I was surprised how crappy the selection of stocking holders for mantles were online and how the prices varied tremendously. There were some decent ones at Target, but I ended up falling in love with the idea of a train and Bed, Bath, and Beyond had the perfect one (and I had many a coupons for them). 

While I was in town picking up the stocking holders, I checked out some of the other stores that had recently put out Christmas decor. I'm honestly shocked by some of the prices they want to charge for things, and since we have a lot of other things we need to put our money towards I was very selective with what I bought. I ended up buying a pair of reindeer and a sculpted tree, both from Home Goods. 

I really didn't want to spend any more money towards our interior decorations, since I had spent a decent chunk already, but I was struggling with what to put above the mantle to finish it out. The wreath I had didn't fit the vibe of the other decorations and the other wreathes I had were too small or too big. I had been setting our picture frames on the mantel until we decided where to hang them and was obsessed with the Christmas pictures I took of Audra (which I will share later), so I decided to have some printed at the local CVS and see how they would look. I think it really works, for this year at least.